Here’s ESPN analyst Mark Jackson speaking on a conference call, offering his take on the Knicks and Carmelo Anthony: “Well, they’re going to miss Carmelo Anthony. It reminds me to a lesser degree obviously, in my opinion the greatest Knick of all time was Patrick Ewing. You appreciated him more as a fan and a New Yorker after he left. Certainly they understood his greatness and they appreciated him, but not the same way until he was no longer in a Knick uniform, and I think the way that Carmelo Anthony has handled himself last year and during his stint with the New York Knicks, he’s been the ultimate pro through adversity, he continued to show up and do what he does best, which is score the basketball and try to put that team in position to win. So they’re going to miss him. That being said, like (fellow ESPN analyst) Jeff (Van Gundy) said, they’ve declared their stance. They are in a rebuilding mode. I think what you look at as a fan or somebody within the organization or around the league is to what level do they compete. We understand that they’re going to be outmatched at times, but you can win games in this league by playing hard, by defending and competing, and that will be the thing that I’ll be looking at to see just how good they can potentially be.”